World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Thursday, January 4, 1940
Day 126

January 4, 1940: Front page of the Manchester Evening News, Manchester, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report at top right: "Fairy Tale of Athenia Nurse"
(Athenia was the first British ship sunk in World War II.)
 
Also note the report in column 5: "Sailors and Spee Men Pals"
(War seems to make strange bedfellows.)
[More about Admiral Graf Spee here.]
[More about HMNZS Achilles here.]


January 4, 1940: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


January 4, 1940: Front page of the Evening Express, Liverpool, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


January 4, 1940: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report in column 5: "Unity Mitford Drama"


January 4, 1940: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report at top right: "Chinese Claim Immense Japanese Losses"
Also note the report in column 5: "Repression Renewed - More Czechs Arrested"
(The report also mentions the possible execution of a number of writers from an underground newspaper.)


January 4, 1940: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


January 4, 1940: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


January 4, 1940: Front page of The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 6: "Over-Censorship All Nonsense"


January 4, 1940: Front page of Haarlem's Dagblad, Haarlem, Netherlands.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


January 4, 1940: Front page of The Escanaba Daily Press, Escanaba, Michigan.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 3: "Mystery Veils Athenia Sinking"
(The Associated Press writer of this report is not named, perhaps because this irresponsible piece is not news, but an opinion piece. The writer has apparently bought the Nazi propaganda about Athenia. While he does not come out and say it, he makes every attempt to convince the reader that the ship was deliberately sunk, probably by the British government. That was the propaganda put out by the Nazis to shift the blame away from them for sinking a passenger ship. In my view, this opinion piece is another example of disgraceful, so-called journalism and is extremely harmful. It is pieces like this that spawn conspiracy theories that last for generations.)


January 4, 1940: Front page of The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report at top right: "$1,716,000,000 Deficit in 1941 Budget Forecast"
(In contrast the deficit for the U.S.A. in 2020 $3.3 trillion, 1,923 times larger than in 1940. Just for some perspective, the national debt in 1940 was $42 billion, it is now $27 trillion, that is 643 times as large. In 1946, after the war, the national debt was $269 billion, this is 100 times less that it is today. Each and every American man, woman and child now owes $81,000, for a family of 4 that is $324,000.)


January 4, 1940: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the headline: "$8,424,000,000 Budget Asked For By FDR"


January 4, 1940: Installment #10 of "Hitler Speaks" from The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
(This installment concludes the series. You can get a PDF with the complete series in the MaritimeQuest Library.)


January 4, 1940: Front page of the Teltower Kriesblatt, Teltow, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
1. Neue Kältewelle über dem Balkan.
(New cold wave over the Balkans.)
2. Besonders Jugoslawien und Griechenland von der Kälte heimgesucht.
(Yugoslavia and Greece especially hard hit by the cold.)


January 4, 1940: Front page of the Hamburger Neueste Zeitung, Altona, Hamburg, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Dunkle Absichten mit Skandinavien.
(Dark intentions with Scandinavia.)
2. Britisches Kampfflugzeug bei Aachen abgeschossen.
(British fighter shot down near Aachen.)



   
Page published January 4, 2021